1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus that efficiently inputs characters through a touch screen in a mobile communication terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a mobile communication terminal is referred as a terminal that can provide personal portability and various functions, such as wireless communications using an application program. The mobile communication terminal includes personal mobile communication terminals, personal digital assistants (PDA's), smart phones, international mobile telecommunication 2000 (IMT-2000) terminals, wireless LAN terminals and the like.
As technological advances have been made in the development of mobile communication terminals, they become now smaller and lighter and have additional functions, such as an MP3 player function, a digital camera function, and a GPS navigator function. That is, mobile communication terminals now provide a composite communication terminal and thus have become a must-have item for many people.
Recent mobile communication terminals (e.g., PDA's) have a touch screen that allows users to input various signals. The touch screen is configured to include a display panel (e.g., an LCD) and a touch panel mounted thereon. The user touches an icon displayed on the touch screen using their finger or a stylus pen to execute a corresponding application. The user can also input characters by touching the keyboard which is displayed on a certain area of the touch screen.
However, conventional mobile communication terminals have various disadvantages including the fact that, when a user inputs characters through the touch screen, due to limitations of the touch screen size the keyboard keys are displayed in relatively small size through a virtual keyboard, and accordingly the user makes frequent touch errors when inputting characters, so that the user must correct their errors and input the characters again. That is, the user must correct errors by repeating the process of inputting characters though the touch screen and this repetitive process wastes time.